I Cram for Civil Service Exams and Crush the Cultivation World

2022.09.23

Pi Youlian transmigrated into a book, becoming the wicked supporting heroine she'd just stayed up all night writing a scathing review about.

The villainess was beautiful, sweet-voiced, and from a good family. Yet she insisted on making life difficult for the heroine, scheming against her at every turn. In the end, she brought about the complete destruction of the Hexi Sect. Her master and fellow disciples were killed by the antagonist, while she herself was crushed to death with one hand by the antagonist, who had secretly loved the heroine. Her remains were pecked apart by birds and beasts, with no one left to bury her.

The story hadn't begun yet, and Pi Youlian wanted only to improve her cultivation and stay away from the original heroine. Looking at her fellow disciples, who were too lazy to practice, and her master, who neglected his duties, she turned her attention to Mount Buzhou, renowned as the cradle of ascension in the cultivation world.

Mount Buzhou was home to Li Ze, the Sword Dao Patriarch. He recruited just one disciple every hundred years, and offered food, lodging, and a guaranteed path to ascension. Wasn't that the perfect iron rice bowl with excellent benefits?

But the admission requirements were extremely strict: a bone age under thirty and a cultivation level no lower than Deity Transformation.

Pi Youlian looked at her tender, sixteen-year-old self and her pitiful Qi Refining cultivation.

Fourteen years. Gritting her teeth, Pi Youlian prepared to summon the same perseverance she had once used to study for the civil service exam and claim the cultivation world's only iron rice bowl for herself.

1.

Pi Youlian's master was a handsome but utterly useless man who spent all day chatting with his precious spirit sword. Other people's masters had reached Deity Transformation long ago, while he was still lazing around at Nascent Soul.

Seeing Pi Youlian cultivate at the punishing intensity of a 996 work schedule, her master stroked his precious spirit sword and sighed. "My dear disciple, take it easy. Your master here is only at Nascent Soul, after all."

Two years later, Pi Youlian had reached a whole new level of overwork. She had reached Nascent Soul.

Her master drew his sword. "...Wait, disciple! Let's cultivate together!"

2.

Pi Youlian's senior brother had a natural sword constitution and was the kind of child other people's parents pointed to as an example. He had never cared much about cultivation and only loved experimenting with food, yet his cultivation kept climbing by leaps and bounds.

Seeing his little junior sister working herself to the bone day and night until she had lost a great deal of weight, he brought her a plate of newly invented pastries and said sympathetically, "Little junior sister, you don't have a top-grade spirit root, so your cultivation won't improve overnight. Why not take a break and have something to eat?"

It wasn't until Pi Youlian knocked him down with a single sword strike that he realized her cultivation had long since surpassed his!

Her senior brother threw down his pot. "...I can't go on! I have a natural sword constitution, and my own little junior sister is beating me! No, I have to catch up!"

3.

Another year passed. Pi Youlian finally broke through Nascent Soul and entered Deity Transformation, earning her place on Mount Buzhou.

The entire cultivation world erupted. Cultivators with poor spirit roots joined the race to outwork one another, convinced that they would be the next to climb Mount Buzhou and set out on the broad road to ascension!

On Mount Buzhou, Pi Youlian looked up at Li Ze, the Sword Dao Patriarch, seated on his high dais, and was too excited to speak. But before she could get over her excitement, she spotted on his left hand the distinctive ring worn by the antagonist in the original book.

Pi Youlian: ...Which hand did the antagonist use to strangle me in the original book?

Help! She had to leave Mount Buzhou and go back to the Hexi Sect to keep working herself to the bone!

*

Li Ze was a towering figure in the cultivation world. Rumor had it that he had reached the realm of ascension a thousand years ago, but he had yet to ascend.

Some said he wanted to train more cultivators capable of ascending. Others said his cultivation had stalled and he had developed a heart demon, making ascension impossible.

Only he knew that he was waiting for the day his great tribulation arrived.

Theme: Prosperity and democracy, long live the civil service exam.